Exclusive: Deadman Bargains With the Devil in DC Universe Presents

DC Comics’ supernatural superhero Deadman takes a hell-ride with the devil in the next issue of DC Universe Presents.

It’s something of a spiritual spiral, because Deadman spends the majority of his philosophical roller coaster ride listening as Son of the Morning — or Lucifer, to you etymologists — trashes the ghostly hero’s savior and enslaver, Rama Kushna.

Deadman, known as aerialist Boston Brand before Rama Kushna (a character lifted from Hinduism’s divine spirit Krishna) resurrected his ghost and tasked it with assisting DC Comics’ hero roster, is looking to sell his soul anyway, so sorting out scripture seems beside the point.

DC Comics has spent years trying to resurrect — uh, I mean reboot — Deadman, whose costume and backstory have been ripe with possibilities since his clumsy but compelling introduction in 1967 and a later run by acclaimed writer Neal Adams.

Everyone from Alan Moore to Geoff Johns has brought him on board as a sometimes-stellar supporting player.

Any questions? They’ll probably be answered when writer Paul Jenkins and artist Bernard Chang unleash Rama’s vengeance on Deadman’s devil’s bargain in DC Universe Presents No. 5. That issue arrives in January, before the series takes on Jack Kirby’s Challengers of the Unknown at the hands of co-writer and artist Jerry Ordway (Crisis on Infinite Earths) and DC Comics co-publisher Dan Didio.